In a year when AMs’ iPods have hit the headlines, Senedd correspondent David Williamson found out what Cardiff Bay’s political class of 2008 will be listening to as they unwind over the festive season

In a year when AMs’ iPods have hit the headlines, Senedd correspondent David Williamson found out what Cardiff Bay’s political class of 2008 will be listening to as they unwind over the festive season

MUSIC is an essential element of romance but the right tune at the crucial time can play just as decisive a role in politics.

Vietnam protesters and the civil rights movement were electrified by the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. And in recent years Bob Geldof and U2’s Bono have demonstrated that the cheers of thousands of fans can be channelled into a mighty demand for debt relief.

Music plays in offices throughout the National Assembly, while the memories of artists who fused the personal and the political continue to energise AMs today.

Labour’s Rosemary Butler

Rosemary draws courage from the life of Paul Robeson.

She said: “The brave and dangerous stand he and other great black singers took against injustice and racial prejudice in the USA in the 1920s and 1930s helped lay the foundations for the heartening presidential victory of Barack Obama in November.”

And she vividly remembers hearing a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio in Kutaisi, Georgia – Newport’s twin city – in 1992, not long after the tiny state had gained independence from the Soviet Union.

She said: “Everyone in the audience understood the significance for Georgia of the opera’s message that hope and freedom can emerge victorious in the struggle against dictatorship.”

She is inspired when she hears The Bells of Rhymney sung by the Ian Campbell Folk Group. Ms Butler was born in the valley and the words to the song were penned by Welsh poet Idris Davies. And when in need of cheering up she turns to the poppier delights of Swedish legends Abba.

Plaid Cymru’s Helen Mary Jones

Helen does not just listen to her inspirational music – she also took part in a musical performance which powered her political vision.

As a member of Côr Cochion Caerdydd, the Cardiff Socialist Choir, she performed in London for Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista president of Nicaragua who had fought the US-backed Contras.

She said: “The people of Nicaragua were struggling so hard at that time for freedom and justice and to have their leader at the end of a stunning speech thank us for the inspiration of our music and our solidarity was moving beyond belief. It also put our fight against Thatcherite politics in context and made me more than ever determined that greed and selfishness would not prevail against our communities, our values and our nation. If the Sandinistas could do it, so could we.”

Labour’s John Griffiths

He said: “Music has shaped my attitudes to politics – many rock groups and artists of my youth were very much about radicalism and change in numerous ways. It was rebellion against conservatism and the political right.”

He was inspired by John Lennon’s Working Class Hero and Imagine and he wore Rock Against Racism and Nuclear Free Wales badges on his denim jacket, alongside a Che Guevara patch.

Former Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Mike German

Mike’s political stance was influenced by Shostakovich’s seventh symphony, written and performed during the World War II siege of Leningrad. He said: “It gave me a sense of the resistance and defiance of totalitarianism which has strengthened my political creed that none shall be enslaved by conformity, and the pursuit of freedom which is such a pillar of Liberal Democracy.”

Similarly, he has never forgotten hearing Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in St Paul’s Cathedral. “It harnessed the power of peace,” he said.

Labour’s Lorraine Barrett

Lorraine remembers singing anti-Vietnam songs on an Oxfam walk from Cardiff to Porthcawl which started at midnight.

She would experience such a cocktail of music and activism again in 1997 when she went to the People’s Jubilee in Alexandra Palace with her husband and three-year-old daughter.

She said: “It was there I met Tony Benn for the first time – and it was probably the most uplifting, inspiring event I can remember.”

Labour AM Leighton Andrews

He remembers a perfect fusing of politics and music when in March 2007 artists including The Automatic, Gruff Rhys, the Alarm and Goldie Lookin Chain performed in protest at Burberry’s factory closure plans.

When in need of inspiration he listens to Bruce Springsteen, REM and the Chilean protest band Sol y Lluvia.

Conservative Assembly leader Nick Bourne

Nick – who courted controversy when he bought an iPod on AM expenses to listen to Welsh language lessons – said: “When I need to be inspired, it may be Chopin, it may be sitar music by Ravi Shankar or something soothing from Beethoven or possibly Mozart.

“When I need to relax I may listen to John Denver or Spanish guitar music or the Police or Edith Piaf or Frank Sinatra.”

Conservative AM David Melding

David recalled the power of hearing music at an oppressive time, saying: “I once saw Don Giovanni in Prague during the dark days of Communism. The Czechs got a lot out of music then and Mozart wrote the great opera whilst living in Prague.”

He is impressed by Wagner but finds his operas rather lengthy.

He quipped: “And as Puccini said, his minutes were marvellous but how the hours dragged – a lot of politicians go on and on like that!“

Lib-Dem Jenny Randerson

Jenny salutes the genius of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby. She said: “It’s all about the impact of loneliness and isolation.”

She finds inspiration in William Walton’s theme music to Henry V.

“It was written during World War II with the deliberate intention of lifting the spirits of the British people,” she said.

“It is very dramatic and descriptive and is all about the underdog.”

Plaid Cymru’s Chris Franks

Among Chris’s musical heroes are Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Simon and Garfunkel, Dylan, and party president Dafydd Iwan.

Labour’s Joyce Watson

Joyce has never forgotten the moment during the 2000 Labour Conference when Nelson Mandela made a surprise appearance and Gabrielle performed her hit Rise.

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